Clichés
The following is a list of what are generally considered to be overused clichés. That doesn't mean to avoid them at all costs; in fact, some of these are overused because they are highly usable. But if the story you're planning on writing incorporates many of these, that should be a warning sign, as they tend to bring the reader out of the story, and will more than likely interfere with their suspension of disbelief. And remember: this is a list of actual clichés, not complaints or opinions (no matter how valid they may be). If you have a complaint that isn't about clichés and more about things that generally tick you off in pastas, try making a blog post about it instead. However, these aren't always to be avoided. If you can work one into a story well, then for God's sake make it. Keep in note that if your story gets deleted for having the cliché reason, that means it wasn't par to the Quality Standards. These cliches may not relate to Roblox creepypastas, but as anyone may upload something with this, I needed to make this. General Clichés *Stories involving the soon-to-be murderous children of cartoonishly abusive parents. *Anything starting with the phrase "I know you're not going to believe this," or "I used to be a skeptic, but..." *ZALGO TEXT Z0MG!!!!!!!!11111oneone (Thanks Bone Apetit!) *Anything starting with "I used to be normal. . ." *The numbers 6, 13, and 666. *(Related) Some satanic shit happening like inverted crosses or pentagrams. *AND THERE WAS BLOOD! EVERYWHERE! *Falsely believing something is over, and then creepy shit happening again anyway. *Using "This actually happened to me" or "This isn't a creepypasta, it really happened!" in an attempt to turn up suspense only kills it. Especially "You have to believe me" or "You won't believe this" is added on. Suspension of disbelief is broken when directly addressed. *Pointless violence and excessive gore. Most of the time, it's just a lame attempt at shock value. *Making the first word/letter of every paragraph spell out something, usually something along the lines of "DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU!" This usually makes the reader laugh from such a silly attempt to scare, especially if they're sitting with a wall behind them. *Ending the pasta with "YOU'RE NEXT!!!!" What are you, five?! *Starting a story with "Don't read this or you'll be cursed," or similar will just make people not read it. *Using hyper-realistic eyes or empty sockets or bleeding eyes, it's used too much. *While we're at it, describing ANYTHING as "realistic" or "hyper-realistic." (this goes for photos, too.) *The Unfaithful Narrator, in which the speaker of the story turns out to be evil, or possessed, or a ghost. *"No escape" either written or said constantly. I really wish I could 'escape' all the pastas that use this... *Opening the story with "I don't have much time to write this" or 'I'm going to die soon." *Computer screens being accosted by horrible images of rape, murder, torture, necrophilia, pedophilia, bestiality and other assorted paraphilias after the protagonist/author plays a creepy game/visits a creepy website/opens files on an 'abandoned computer/hard drive', followed by the computer blue screening, then restarting with one (or more) of those images as the desktop wallpaper, which the author can't get rid of or obscure with other windows. This is actually disgusting and anything with this will be immediately banned. *Stories about the HORRIBLE TRUTH of the things you seen in the corner of your eye. *There's something behind you! *Anything that has to do with evil domestic housecats. *Characters with abnormal eyes (especially blood red eyes) and every one hates them because of it. *Killer dolls. *Fanfics of the sort. We do not accept "Jeff the Killer x Slenderman" articles, or any sort. We are a literature site, not the next Fanfic.net. General Video Game Clichés *Creator or seller of game dying or going insane. *(Related) Said creator coming to the house, killing the person playing, and leaving complete gibberish on screen. *IT L00KED N0RM4L BUT N0W ITS CR4ZY AM I H1GH???????????????? (Suggested by Bone Appetit) *I was playing Jailbrea-Wha-what the fuck are you doing? Stop, stop. STOP. (Suggested by Bone Appetit) *Someone in chat pleading for help or saying that they are the victim of the creator (Suggested by Bone Appetit) *Creator of the "terrifying" game following you around. What is that they have, super advanced tracking tech? (Suggested by Bone Appetit) *Classic childhood game with super-violent content added. *Destroying the game, but it magically reappears. *Extra cliché points if it happens multiple times. *Obviously technically impossible stuff, such as games that delete themselves in such a way that you can't recover them, or games with "perfect" copy protection. This includes older games having graphics/sound/visual effects beyond the system's technical limitations. *"Hidden" content in popular games (such as Pokémon, that have been gone over with a fine toothed comb a thousand times). *The game knows my name (even though I never put it in anywhere/the game has no ability for me to change my characters/save files name). *Song generally regarded as "creepy" plays on repeat or backwards (HI, LAVENDER TOWN THEME!). *Not being able to turn off/unplug the game console/TV. *On the same note, being unable to turn the volume off/down. Extra cliché points if the volume becomes deafeningly loud. (also applies to lost episode pasta.) *Trying to relive some childhood nostalgia. *This mod was PMed to me personally/found it on a skeezy looking site/found on a random disc and ZOMG IT'S SUPAH CREEPY GUIZ. *The game's talking to me, telling me to go away, turn back or something of that sort. *Characters begging you (or appearing to beg you) not to go to certain places or do certain things. *Random EXE files appearing on your computer or being sent to you by an "anonymous sender". *Downloading obviously suspicious ROMs or Hacks because "you desperately need to play." *Games that mess with your computer background or desktop icons. Also applies to pastas about video files. *Thinking that certain things were just some "minor glitches". *It depends on the glitch of course, but if it's actually something that could be written off as a minor glitch then it probably goes without saying anyway. *Destroying the cartridge/disc/game card in disgust as an explanation for why you can't provide proof of the game's existence; that's just lazy writing. Also applies to DVDs and VHS tapes in Lost Episode pastas. *The person who sold the game (yard, eBay, whatever) begging people to buy it, and for a low price too. *Also, the ebay account/yardsale/old creepy game store mysteriously disappears if the narrator tries to check back in. *Old cartridges/disks/game cards/flash drives/etc found in garbage cans, desks, the ground, and has names scribbled on with Sharpie or carved into the plastic itself. *Ending the pasta by vowing that you'll never play the game ever again. *A plush toy, usually bloody, of the antagonist, appearing suddenly at the end of the story. Also applies to Lost Episode pastas. *As your character gets hurt/maimed in the game, you get hurt in real life. Related cliché: dying in the game makes you die for real. *The character you play as looks exactly like you or someone close to you. *Going to the mirror to see that the person there is not yourself, especially if the person in the mirror is a supernatural entity. *Starting the story with "Have you ever heard of *insert game title*?" Theory Clichés *Saying that the video game was all in a character's imagination, or that they were hallucinating, on drugs, comatose, or mentally ill. *In series with a fantasy setting or any other setting with fantastic creatures, saying that it takes place after a nuclear apocalypse. *The protagonist being in Hell or Purgatory, everything in the series being a reflection of their sins. This one wore out its welcome quickly, too. (You'll notice a pattern emerging here.) *Lack of evidence to back-up your theories. Not a cliché, just sayin'. I made an example creepypasta using some of the creepypastas. Read it here: http://robloxcreepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/SToRy_ThAt_WiLl_ScArE_yOu